Star Wars

queenbone · February 2013

Okay, I realize this is a long way off for many of you, so please bear with me.

DH and I have been looking forward to sharing Star Wars with our son for a long time. We were planning on waiting until he was about 7 to let him watch it. In September we were stuck for a babysitter and our best friends offered to help out. Their son is 3 mo younger than DS1. They have a very different parenting style than us. It was a huge favor they did us. However, they let our son watch Star Wars. They didn't ask or let us know in advance; we found out after the fact from DS. I'm still pissed about it. I've never mentioned my irritation with them to them.

Lots of the boys in DS's class have seen Star Wars too apparently, or at least they all talk about it all the time and some of them have Star Wars themed b-day parties. DS has been talking about Star Wars non-stop recently. He seems to know the whole story, more or less.

We are considering letting him watch it with us. Last month we introduced him to The Wizard of Oz, he wasn't scared at all, not even of the flying monkeys! (Unlike his mother, those things still creep me out.) But Star Wars is a lot more violent, lots more people die, all the guns. (I realize I can't stop him from pretending to shoot guns, but I would like to minimize the glorification of them, especially at 5.) I'm just worried that we'd be making a bad decision letting him watch it now, just because we've sort of been backed into the situation.

Am I overreacting? How old do you think is the right age for Star Wars? Would you let him watch it now?

mystic_J · February 2013

IDK, to me it seems that since he has already seen it, why not let him see it again and share the experience with you?

BTW ladies, do not read this thread to your husband! I brought up the subject to him and now am being forced to watch a Star Wars marathon tomorrow for Fat Tuesday. Tongue Tied

JillAly · February 2013

My son is 5. All the kids (boys) in his class know about Star Wars and they got him interested in it. He wanted light sabers and wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween. I let him but that wasn't enough. He kept begging us to let him watch Star Wars - which I refused because it was so violent. He kept begging and begging. Finally, it happened to be on TV one Saturday so I let him watch some. Within 10 minutes, he was digging his nails into me telling me he was so scared. I turned it off and won't let him watch it for a long, long time.

Now I realize that while the kids may know the premise- good vs. evil - they don't know the details and aren't able to process the real story of it. It's just too violent. I know all kids are different - but my son is pretty saavy (for a 5 year old) and people usually think he's 6 or 7 because of it. It didn't matter. It's just too old for them. So my 2 cents is to wait. There are enough movies out there!

BTW- my son loves the Wizard of Oz. I wouldn't even think that movie and Star Wars are on the same level for violence.

TJ1979 · February 2013

My initial thought, like jme, is that if he's already seen it, I would go ahead and watch it with him. That way at least you can do it together and you can gauge his reaction. My guess is that if he was watching it with another boy, they were probably doing a lot more playing than paying attention to the actual movie though, so maybe he hasn't seen as much of it as you think. I'm sorry your friends took that from you.I know what it's like to have something planned in your head and have it taken away like that. Hugs, and good luck with the decision.

RoseHQ12 · February 2013

JillAly:

My son is 5. All the kids (boys) in his class know about Star Wars and they got him interested in it. He wanted light sabers and wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween. I let him but that wasn't enough. He kept begging us to let him watch Star Wars - which I refused because it was so violent. He kept begging and begging. Finally, it happened to be on TV one Saturday so I let him watch some. Within 10 minutes, he was digging his nails into me telling me he was so scared. I turned it off and won't let him watch it for a long, long time.

Now I realize that while the kids may know the premise- good vs. evil - they don't know the details and aren't able to process the real story of it. It's just too violent. I know all kids are different - but my son is pretty saavy (for a 5 year old) and people usually think he's 6 or 7 because of it. It didn't matter. It's just too old for them. So my 2 cents is to wait. There are enough movies out there!

BTW- my son loves the Wizard of Oz. I wouldn't even think that movie and Star Wars are on the same level for violence.

This!

queenbone · February 2013

jme515:
IDK, to me it seems that since he has already seen it, why not let him see it again and share the experience with you?
BTW ladies, do not read this thread to your husband! I brought up the subject to him and now am being forced to watch a Star Wars marathon tomorrow for Fat Tuesday.

LOL, sorry about that!

mommyof4boys · February 2013

I would assume my parenting style is different than yours. My boys are 15, 7, 7, and 5. We got my 15 year old the complete box set when he was 7 or 8. One of my twins loves the movies and has been watching them for 2ish years. We did a Star Wars Lego party for them this year.

My guys (the younger 3) have also watched Spider-man, Batman (the older ones only. I won't let them watch the newer ones), Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. They have watched HP 1-5. I won't go any higher with them. IMO, as long as you teach responsible gun behavior, it's ok. My boys know to NOT point at another person. They have water guns and we water our plants with them.

Dragonfly1226 · February 2013

My two year old doesn't watch any television at all with the exception of an 8 minute episode of Peep and the Big Wide World on YouTube once in a blue moon so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I think five years old is too young to watch Star Wars. Even if he was exposed once by someone else, that doesn't mean that you have to continue the exposure or repeat it. I wouldn't be pushed into it by a friend who already may have let him watch the movie or by your DS asking to see it again. So I say no, but at the end of the day I think it is an individual parenting decision.

itsmevkb · February 2013

I don't know that I've ever considered the fourth, fifth and sixth movies to be all that violent. My kids have seen them and we haven't had any issues. The part I think I would hesistate to have them watch is in the third movie where Anakin is being burnt and left for dead. That sticks out to me as the most violent part of all six movies.

We are pretty lax with regards to what we let our kids watch though so perhaps I'm not the best to answer.

imoverit · February 2013

Ok so I would be really pissed too. But Im one of those people that wants to be there for my DS firsts of everything. Lol. I think where I would really be upset is the fact that you were planning to share that special moment and it was taken away. Im sorry.

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